Owner of kennel has history of violations, sheriff says

Sunday

Feb 22, 2009 at 12:01 AMFeb 22, 2009 at 10:03 PM

Ken Copeland, Newton County Sheriff, said deputies have yet to find a license for the kennel run by Jewel Bond. More than 200 animals, including dogs, a cat and a tiger, were taken from the kennel near Seneca on Thursday.

John Ford

Ken Copeland, Newton County sheriff, said deputies have yet to find a license for the kennel run by Jewel Bond. More than 200 animals, including dogs, a cat and a tiger, were taken from the kennel near Seneca on Thursday.

In January 2006, Bond was fined $10,000 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for violations of the Animal Welfare Act, and ordered to suspend her AWA license for a year. In April 2008, she appealed the decision to the Eighth Circuit United States Court of Appeals, but the appeal was denied late that month.

In July 2007, Bond’s kennel was raided and 127 animals were confiscated. She signed those animals over to the state, Copeland said, which cleaned the dogs up, gave them medical care, then sold them. After deducting expenses, the state’s agricultural department turned the remaining proceeds back over to Bond, the sheriff said.

“She went right back in and took care of them in the same way, or lack of care, I could say. She sure did,” Copeland said.

Bond has been charged with two counts of animal abuse, a Class A misdemeanor, after authorities seized a Bengal tiger, 209 dogs and one cat from her business, J.B.’s Precious Puppies.

The counts allege that Bond, 66, of Seneca, knowingly failed to provide adequate care for the animals.

According to Copeland, many of the dogs were without water, and a veterinarian said some appeared to be dehydrated.

Meanwhile, a probable cause affidavit filed by Newton County Sheriff’s Department investigator Andy Pike said authorities discovered skeletal remains of adult dogs and puppies in dog food bags behind a building on the property.

According to Pike’s affidavit, the property had running water, but the pipes running to many of the cages were broken.

“The building that a lot of these dogs were in had a very strong smell of feces and urine,” Pike wrote in the affidavit.

A Bengal tiger was also discovered and a veterinarian from the Dickerson Park Zoo said the tiger was severely malnourished. The adult female tiger weighed 175 pounds, but was supposed to weigh 400, the vet said.

“The animal looked to be very malnourished,” Pike wrote. “The tiger had ribs that were visible showing through the skin. The tiger’s hair had mud and feces in it.”

Pike said the tiger was taken out of the cage for examination by the vet, who determined there was an infection on the big cat’s foot pads, likely from being in contact with urine, feces and mud in the cage. Like many of the puppies, the tiger did not have food or water in its cage. Copeland has said two puppy carcasses, mostly bones and hair, were discovered in the tiger’s cage.

In the 2007 raid, Copeland said, the Missouri State Humane Society and the state’s agricultural department both told Bond the tiger was “way underweight.” At that time, Copeland said, Bond told authorities the tiger had been ill, and she was nursing it back to health. Bond had a county permit to keep the tiger and the animal was not seized at that time.

The dogs were taken to St. Louis for treatment and cleaning, but remain as live evidence in the case until a March 9 hearing in Newton County. Bond then has 10 days to turn over a “cash bond” with the court to cover costs of medical treatment and sheltering the animals. If she doesn’t post the bond, the court could turn the dogs over to the Humane Society, which will determine which ones can be adopted out.